“Could you stop following me?”
“Ah, no way.”
How was I so confidently shouting just a moment ago?
Lucia grumbled to herself, calling herself foolish while tracking the short-haired girl May with her eyes, yet she didn’t stop chasing after her.
Lucia believed that rehabilitating the delinquents of the Aios Academy was the mission that Helios had given her. However, once she calmed down, she began to doubt God’s words after just ten short minutes.
She wondered if she had been too reckless in her excitement.
No, more importantly, was it really Helios who had called her to rehabilitate these people?
Though she was told to listen to the divine and follow their will, the irony was that they never actually spoke a word to her.
If one were to call religious folks something different, they’d be the kind of people always looking for cues.
She had to decipher their intentions through her own judgment and intuition.
“Let’s just punch them a few times and get it over with.”
“Should we try to charm her? She looks kinda pretty.”
“I was thinking the same thing! She looks innocent enough to mess with, right?”
“Shut up, I’m being serious! Her looks are totally my type. Sure, her chest is a bit small.”
May clenched her fists and glared at the boys’ indecent chatter nearby.
“Hey, what did you just say?”
So these guys are getting cocky after I’ve let them off easy recently?
She wanted to reestablish discipline and show them this time would be different, but one of the boys, Beldament, stopped her.
“I’ll talk to them, so don’t go getting mad for no reason.”
Beldament, who used to be known for his fistfighting in Class D and led a gang, was now acting dutifully and loyally, almost like her right hand.
“Alright, just give them a warning.”
Since she trusted Beldament, May sighed and took a candy out of her pocket.
Learning how hard it is to stand over others, May was figuring it out at a much younger age than most.
“That guy definitely likes you.”
“I heard him talking with the other boys! Beldament is not a bad catch.”
The girls nearby approached May, trying to cheer her up with various stories.
The conversation drifted to Beldament naturally, but May felt a bit uncomfortable.
“Are you seriously thinking about him again? Let’s drop it.”
“Yeah, Daniel is honestly kinda scary.”
“And his rumors are just trash. He brings all the girls to his room, ugh, so creepy.”
“Why do Rin and Elise like him? I just don’t get it.”
Listening to them badmouthing Daniel, May felt boiling rage, but she had no retort.
Leaving aside who Daniel McLean really was, his notoriety in the Aios Academy was rising higher with each passing day.
‘Not like he cares at all.’
Thinking of Daniel, who would say it was no big deal unless he got expelled, she suddenly missed him.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come at all.’
Tangled up with the gang and having no fun; but it wasn’t like she could just not show up, so…
Letting out a sigh, May stuffed her hands into her pockets, rolling the candy around in her mouth before shifting her gaze to Lucia, who had been silently following her from behind.
“I’ll shake her off and come back. You guys go ahead.”
“Uh?”
Without waiting for a response, May turned her body and walked back the way she came, away from the group.
The gang and even Lucia were flustered, but nobody could catch her.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
As May passed by her, Lucia glanced around nervously and decided to follow her.
‘I just don’t want to hear them badmouthing Daniel.’
Which girl would want to hear gossip about the guy she likes?
No matter what she said, it would just ruin the mood, and defending him would only add to Daniel’s bad reputation, so she chose to avoid the situation altogether.
“Hey, hey! Wait for me!”
“Hurry up.”
She thought about spending time with the sweet-looking country girl she’d just met, but just then her shoelace came undone.
“Damn, my luck is terrible.”
She thought she’d have fun on the field trip, but nothing was going right, and her mood plummeted.
Wondering if she made a mistake coming, May started tying her shoe, and Lucia, who hesitated for a while, finally bravely asked.
“You like a guy named Daniel, right?”
“What, huh?”
Just as she finished tying her laces and stood up, May’s face flushed at the unexpected question, covering her face with her wrist.
Seeing her take a step back, Lucia grinned slyly for the first time.
“Can you tell me about it? It’s my first time hearing about love!”
“W-Wait, what?”
May wondered what the heck this girl was talking about, but to Lucia, May had transformed from a delinquent queen to just a heroine in a romance novel.
At the age of 18, when she was already very curious about love.
However, living in a convent, Lucia only saw love as a sticky emotion connecting gods and humans.
Relationships between men and women? Not a chance.
She remembered how a nun had gotten scolded for bringing in romance novels to read, resulting in a month of cleaning toilets and serving food, all because she couldn’t ignore the affection the brothers showed her.
Yet that nun had said she had no regrets.
Lucia was too scared to take the plunge, but she was definitely curious.
The girl in front of her was a treasure trove of stories.
Feeling her heart race, Lucia’s enthusiasm began to wear down May’s resistance.
*
“Haah, tell me a somewhat interesting story, will ya?!”
Should I hit her?
No, should I kill her?
Feeling like if I put more strength into my grip, the pen I was holding would snap, I took a deep breath to collect my thoughts.
While all the students were off on a field trip, here I was, stuck alone like a dog guarding the house, studying in the classroom.
But the dean had said something.
They would leave one person behind in the fourth year.
At first, I didn’t care at all and thought I wouldn’t run into them much, but since there was no need to separate two students studying alone, I got placed in the same classroom with the fourth year delinquent.
And, as fate would have it, the person I was familiar with.
To be exact, it was a girl I had a slightly complicated misunderstanding with.
The fourth-year, Seria Deloa.
An unfamiliar name, but one that struck a strong chord in my memory for a particular reason.
“The female Ares.”
That’s right.
She was the one who played the role of “Eris” in the play. When I said I wanted to see Eris, she misunderstood and thought I liked her.
“It seems Ares is finally coming to his senses, but this senpai…”
I had no problem sharing a classroom, but this girl kept sidling up to me, flirting in her own sultry voice while chattering away.
“Hey? Tell me a fun story.”
She probably thought she was playing with a clueless junior.
‘Should I toughen up my response?’
Something like, “Hey, get lost” should do the trick, right?
‘Is that too harsh?’
But if I didn’t say something like that, I felt like my mood wouldn’t improve. As I was about to reply without much thought, the door swung open.
“Daniel!”
“Huh? Sister?”
In walked my older sister, Diana McLean, a fifth-year who had only attended a few lectures.
Thanks to the potion from the Grand Witch, I had neatly hidden the traces of dragonkin on my sister.
“I came because I thought you’d be bored alone, and I see Seria’s here too?”
“Uh, S-Senpai.”
Seria Deloa, who appeared uncomfortable recognizing my sister, held her breath as Diana raised her fist quietly.
“Don’t you dare flirt with my brother or I’ll rip your tail off, you little brat.”
Is this what siblings are for?
My sister said exactly what I wanted to say. Feeling the strength in her demeanor, Seria awkwardly laughed while inching away from me.
“S-Senpai, I haven’t done that in ages.”
“Yeah, you better not.”
“Of course! You guided me through it back then, so I’ve changed completely.”
“Just watch yourself. Daniel, let’s go hang out.”
With that, she grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. I felt a little bashful with Seria next to us, but my sister didn’t care.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m not sure. I just thought I’d take over since there are fewer girls around lately and monopoly on you is nice.”
“Um… don’t you think Beldament will get mad?”
“Didn’t I say I’d get mad if you brought him up?”
Diana pinched my side.
It hurt more than I expected since she was being serious, but I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Fifth-year Beldament Mayas. The son of the prestigious Mayas family, known for his roots with Tana, has a crush on my sister.
Once rivals with her, he confessed his feelings after realizing them during her hospitalization from the dragonkin incident.
“Too bad he got rejected instantly.”
Seeing my sister steadfastly reject him right next to me had made me feel sorry for Beldament, but I also hoped my sister could date someone nice.
“That way, maybe she’ll stop acting like this when playing with me.”
I heard he had a bit of a troublemaker side, but he sounded decent enough with looks and personality to have many friends.
Whatever it was, he’d just come to me wanting to hang out.
‘Well, it’s not like I mind.’
Still, I was worried about her not getting married later, and it was just piling on my anxieties.
*
“That brat.”
Once the McLean siblings left, Seria Deloa bit her nails, unable to contain her rising stress.
There was a time when she was fooling around with boys, and it erupted into a big fight. Boys brawled over her, trying to win her affection.
That time was the strongest satisfaction she had felt, but she would say to stop while secretly laughing and encouraging them.
The one who put an end to that was none other than Diana McLean.
Claiming it was loud, she knocked all the boys down with her sword and finished off Seria by beating her like a dog on a summer day.
‘She told me never to play around with boys again?’
Seria clearly remembered what Diana had said to her and it occasionally came to her in nightmares.
“It’s really annoying.”
As frustration bubbled over, students cautiously opened the door and peeked in.
‘Second years?’
They were second-year boys, ones she had spotted lurking nearby a few times.
‘Oh, the popularity’s outrageous.’
Seria instantly struck a studying beauty pose and picked up her pen, smiling warmly at them.
“What’s up?”
The boys, initially bashful, gathered their courage and approached Seria, handing her a letter.
“S-Senpai Seria! This is my heart.”
‘Zero points.’
Their looks weren’t bad; they were just ordinary.
But the level of their confession was completely underwhelming.
Boys who’d never even held a girl’s hand could definitely do better than this.
It was way too sudden, and clearly nervous, the letter crumpled in places, while the envelope lacked finesse and there was no gift whatsoever; it was pathetic.
Shouldn’t you at least introduce yourself since I don’t even know your name?
Just moments ago, she had been feeling satisfied, but now her mood plummeted.
Catching just a small fry like this wouldn’t cut it.
She was a fisherman.
A real angler using herself as bait to catch bigger prey.
She couldn’t help but feel irritated over catching even a small guppy.
Yet, small fry could still be useful in a soup.
A way to deal with this unnamed second-year crossed Seria’s mind.
“I’m sorry, but I have someone I’m dating.”
“D-Dating someone?”
“Yeah, I’m waiting for them right now.”
Casually pointing to the empty space two seats over.
Though it looked a bit awkward since Diana had shifted one seat closer, the boy’s eyes widened in surprise, gazing at her, and she concealed her face with her hand, acting shy.
It was obvious who was left among the third and fourth years.
“It’s a secret.”
Winking playfully as Seria Deloa smirked internally, knowing how quickly tales spread, especially about a fourth-year Madona like herself.
Because Daniel McLean liked her. Hearing the rumors would only make him fonder.
‘Just thinking about how furious he’ll be after losing his precious little brother gives me chills!’
What she didn’t realize in that very moment was, out of the 19 relatively short years of her life…
She had just made the biggest mistake of all.
[6 Days Until the End of the Field Trip]
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